8/19/11

We're learning.

Marianna and I thought about it some more, and we decided to pull the print because of the bad vibes it brought along.

There's nothing to be ashamed about in terms of starting a conversation, but we just don't want to start a fight. That isn't why we are doing this.

You can read our response below that we posted on their blog.

"Hi friends-

This is Micah of Old Try.

Let me be the first one to say that the Stars and bars, the confederate battle flag in and of itself, has offended me from day one of my birth.

I grew up to learn to value each person for their worth and not to care about their skin color. Jesus doesn't value one person over another. Nor do I.

And that is one of the reasons I don't live in the South now. I am seeking to discover other parts of the country and to see how people live together. And at least in the South folks will discuss it, because of all we have to deal with.

I moved to Mississippi for college and was utterly amazed that the stars and bars was on their state flag. I still am, and I will applaud the day they choose to change it.

But it is their current flag. And as you'll see in our Alabama and Georgia prints, we are using their current state flags as well. Do I disagree with a symbol in their flag? Yes. Do I think reprinting their flag in its current iteration with their state motto is condoning hateful acts? I do not.

This won't be the spark that causes the state to change their flag design. Even if I wish it were.

I am merely printing one print that features a current state flag so that the people of Mississippi can have something to hang on their walls to remember where they are from. Could I have chosen a different symbol? I could have, and the next iteration of the state motto will feature something else. We plan to evolve and alter our prints with each edition.

This edition features a flag.

A flag that the state of Mississippi has chosen for themselves.

But you know what? While this discussion is worth having, upsetting folks is not what I want Old Try to be about. The reason we started this is so we didn't only see Confederate flags representing our past.

We're going to pull the version of the state flag. And we're going to print something else. And we're going to hug each of you around your necks when we see you.

2 comments:

As a Mississippian who spend 5 years away in the Pacific Northwest- I know what it means to miss the south. I know what it means to want- desperately -to get away from the south, and then long to return. After the birth of my son, we returned to Mississippi for family and a lower cost of living. By ignoring the south, we do not change what happens here. By ignoring what Mississippi's state flag is, we do not change it. The truth is, the confederate flag is a part of the state flag. You have every right to use that in your art without criticism and without hypocrisy.